James Petras
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James Petras (born 17 January 1937) is a retired Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
at
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
in
Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...
and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University, Halifax,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
who has published on political issues with particular focus on
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
and the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
,
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
,
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
, and leftist social movements.


Life and work


Academic and Literature

Petras is a Greek-American sociologist who received a B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
.About James Petras on his personal website
Retrieved 22 February 2015.
He joined the Sociology Department at Binghamton in 1972 as a specialist in the following fields: Development, Latin America, the Caribbean, revolutionary movements, class analysis. During his career he received the Western Political Science Association's Best Dissertation award (1968), the Career of Distinguished Service Award from the
American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...
's Marxist Sociology Section, and the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book of 2002. Petras is the author of more than 60 books published in 29 languages, and over 600 articles in professional journals, including the ''
American Sociological Review The ''American Sociological Review'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the American Sociological Association. It was established in 1936. It is along ...
'', ''
British Journal of Sociology ''The British Journal of Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1950 at the London School of Economics and Political Science. It represents the mainstream of sociological thinking and research and publishes high qua ...
'', ''
Social Research Social research is research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative. * Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable ...
'' and ''Journal of Peasant Studies''. He has published over 2,000 articles in publications such as the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', ''
Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper b ...
'', ''
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'', ''
New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...
'', ''
Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...
'', '' Canadian Dimension'', and '' Le Monde Diplomatique''. He writes a monthly column for the Mexican newspaper, ''La Jornada'', and has previously written for the Spanish daily, ''El Mundo''. His commentary is widely carried on the internet and radio stations around the world. Petras currently contributes to
CounterPunch ''CounterPunch'' is a left-wing online magazine. Content includes a free section published five days a week as well as a subscriber-only area called CounterPunch+, where original articles are published weekly. ''CounterPunch'' is based in the Un ...
, the Atlantic Free Press, and '' The Unz Review''. He is the author of ''Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century'' (2001, and co-author of ''The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America'' (2000), ''System in Crisis'' (2003), ''Social Movements and State Power'' (2003), ''Empire With Imperialism'' (2005), and ''Multinationals on Trial'' (2006).


Political views

Petras was a member of the
Young Socialist Alliance The Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) was a Trotskyist youth group of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992. The ...
circa 1960, and is listed as the Bay Area correspondent for ''The Young Socialist'' in several issues. Through the decades Petras has worked directly with indigenous workers as an organizer, in particular with the Brazilian
Landless Workers' Movement The Landless Workers' Movement (, MST) is a social movement in Brazil aimed at land reform. Inspired by Marxism, it is the largest such movement in Latin America, with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 million across 23 of Brazil's 26 sta ...
and the unemployed workers' movement in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. He has advised left-wing presidents such as President
Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...
of Greece (1981-84), President
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...
of Chile (1970–73) and in recent years, President
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
of Venezuela. He has established himself as a defender of the rights of the indigenous in Latin America. From 1973-76 Petras worked on the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. Petras has referred to American policy towards Iraq as "The US/Iraqi Holocaust (UIH)" which he describes as "an ongoing process spanning the last 16 years (1990-2006)
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
provides us with a striking example of state-planned systematic extermination, torture and physical destruction designed to de-modernize a secular developing society and revert icit into a series of warring clan-tribal-clerical-ethnic based entities devoid of any national authority or viable economy." In November 2006, he was one of the recipients of a letter from
FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...
in Colombia concerning three American hostages (Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes). Other recipients included the Reverend
Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...
,
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
,
Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...
, and several American film stars. He described the political conflict during and following the 2009 presidential election in Iran as pitting "high income, free market oriented capitalist"
reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...
s against Ahmadinejad's "
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
, low income, community-based supporters of a 'moral economy'", and denounced the claim that the election was stolen as a "hoax" perpetrated by "Western opinion makers". Petras defended
Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...
during the 2017 French presidential campaign, praising her policy views as pro-working class, anti-imperialist,
Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...
, pro-choice, and supportive of gay rights. Petras predicted that a victory by
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
followed by his implementation of an "ultra-neoliberal supply-side agenda" would lead to mass street demonstrations by leftists, followed by a stronger Le Pen candidacy in the 2022 election.


Anti-Zionism, criticisms of the Jewish lobby and allegations of antisemitism

In his book ''The Power of Israel in the United States'', published in 2006 by Clarity Press, Petras described the power of the
Jewish lobby The Jewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in the Jewish diaspora that advocate for the interests of Jews and Jewish values. The lobby references the involvement and influence of Jews in politics and the political process, and ...
over
American foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...
. The book was extremely controversial for its use of arguments which some critics contended were similar to those of neo-Nazis describing Jews as a loathsome, conspiratorial force seeking to oppress others. The conclusion of the book alleges that progressive Jews are "protective of everything Jewish" and "adamantly determined" to avoid criticism of Jewish power, due to their ties to Israel and funding from Jewish organizations. Petras particularly singles out
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
as "apologist orthe US Jewish lobby", asserting that Chomsky loses his power of analysis when it comes to addressing "the role of his own ethnic group". In a debate about the book with
Norman Finkelstein Norman Gary Finkelstein ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American political scientist and activist. His primary fields of research are the politics of the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Finkelstein was born in New York Cit ...
, a former student of James Petras at SUNY Binghamton, during which Finkelstein described the book as having a conspiratorial "cloak and dagger" approach to geopolitics as opposed to a Marxist analysis, Petras accused Finkelstein of downplaying Jewish power: "I am afraid that when it comes to dealing with the predominantly Jewish lobby, he has a certain blind spot, which is understandable. In many other national and ethnic groups -- where they can criticize the world but otwhen it comes to identifying the power and malfeasance of their own group." In his 2008 book, ''If I Am Not For Myself: Journal of an Anti-Zionist Jew'', leftist writer Mike Marqusee criticised Petras for purportedly "overt antisemitism": "Petras... seems unaware of the way postulates about the secret power of a pro-Israel Jewish network echo older ntisemiticthemes." Marqusee particularly criticised his dismissal of Finkelstein's and Chomsky's criticisms of his position, which Petras attributes to an ethnically-grounded blindness to the negative role of American Jews. Instead, Marqusee described the argument advanced by Petras as "a circular, inherently racist argument." Marqusee concluded that Petras is not an internationalist, but an America first nationalist. The leftist writer Michael Bérubé similarly criticised the book, describing it as reading like "a fringe far-right figure such as
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...
" Allen Ruff, a Trotkyist historian, reviewed the book in '' Against The Current'' and noted that "There’s a strong undercurrent here of an appeal to a far-from-savory American nationalism which seems very strange coming from a veteran revolutionary anti-imperialist", and that Petras blurs distinctions between terms such as Jewish lobby, Israel lobby and Zionist lobby and "lapses into the well-worn dual-loyalty discourse" about Jews, in a manner reminiscent of "elements of the far right". Other scholars and anti-racists have also described Petras as an
antisemite Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. In a 2006 article entitled "9/11 Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories Still Abound," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticized Petras's assertion that US federal investigators had reason to believe that 60 Israelis arrested under the Patriot Act after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks may have had advance knowledge about the attacks. The ADL also noted Petras' assertion that "The lack of any public statement concerning Israel's possible knowledge of 9/11 is indicative of the vast, ubiquitous and aggressive nature of its powerful diaspora supporters." In a 2009 article, the ADL again criticized Petras, alleging that he blamed the ongoing
economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...
on "Zionist" control over the U.S. government and world events, and that Petras argued that pro-Israel Americans had launched a massive campaign to push the U.S. into a war with Iran. The ADL also criticised what they described as Petras' antisemitic accusation that the American Jewish community controls the mass media and is "bloodthirsty" in its appetite for war. The previous year, Petras alleged that "It was the massive infusion of financial contributions that allowed the ionist Power Configuration(ZPC) to vastly expand the number of full-time functionaries, influence peddlers and electoral contributors that magnified their power – especially in promoting US Middle East wars, lopsided free trade agreements (in favor of Israel) and unquestioned backing of Israeli aggression against Lebanon, Syria and Palestine...No economic recovery is possible now or in the foreseeable future...while Zionist power brokers dictate US Mideast policies. The ADL also cited a 2008 interview in which Petras stated that .S.presidents are at the disposal of Jewish power and maintained that Jews represent "the greatest threat to world peace and humanity." In the same 2008 interview cited by the ADL, Petras stated that "it’s one of the great tragedies that we have a minority that represents less than 2% of North American’s population but has such power in the communications media" and that the reason "why the North American public doesn’t react against the manipulations of this minority... sbecause the Jews control the communications media."A Disenchanted James Petras
by Efraín Chury Iribarne, ''Dissident Voice'', June 13th, 2008.
In a 2010 article published in the ''Arab American News'', Petras stated that "For the U.S. mass media the problem is not Israeli state terror, but how to manipulate and disarm the outrage of the international community. To that end the entire Zionist power configuration has a reliable ally in the Zionized Obama White House and U.S. Congress." In 2011 and again in 2017, Petras endorsed works by Gilad Atzmon which have been described as antisemitic. In 2011, Mark Gardner of the
Community Security Trust The Community Security Trust (CST) is a British charity whose stated mission is to provide safety, security, and advice to the Jewish community in the UK. It provides advice, training, representation and research. Founding and mission The Commun ...
, which monitors antisemitism in the UK, wrote an article in the left-wing magazine ''
Dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
'' saying that Petras' works "present a conspiracy theory that... fits resoundingly with the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century socialist linkage of Jews with capitalism, now updated and repackaged for twenty-first-century anti-capitalist discourse." In 2014, Marxist scholar Werner Bonefeld described Petras as exemplary of a current of antisemitism on the anti-imperialist left: "The Jews n Petras' workhave not only conquered Palestine; they have also taken control of America, or as James Petras sees it, the current effort of 'U.S. empire building' is shaped by 'Zionist empire builders.'" Similarly, author Paul Bogdanor described Petras as "articulat nghis theory of the organized American Jewish community as a 'Zionist Power Configuration' (ZPC)—an acronym that he apparently developed as a substitute for the
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
term ' Zionist Occupation Government' (ZOG)... and cautions against 'the role of the Zionist/Jewish Lobby in promoting future US wars.' None of this material is readily distinguishable from contemporary neo-Nazi propaganda."Paul Bogdano
Manifestations of Antisemitism in British Intellectual and Cultural Life
in Alvin H. Rosenfeld, ed
Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives
' , Indiana University Press (Series: Studies in Antisemitism), 2013, pp.77-78


Selected bibliography

* ''Latin America in the Vortex of Social Change: Development and Resistance Dynamics'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Routledge (2019). * ''Power and Resistance: US Imperialism in Latin America'', with Henry Veltmeyer, (2015). * ''The politics of empire. The US, Israel and the Middle East'', (2014). * ''The New Extractivism. A Post-Neoliberal Development Model or Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century?'', with Henry Veltmeyer,
Zed Books Zed Books is a non-fiction publishing company based in London, UK. It was founded in 1977 under the name Zed Press by Roger van Zwanenberg. Zed publishes books for an international audience of both general and academic readers, covering areas ...
(2014). * ''Imperialism and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century: A System in Crisis'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Ashgate (2013). * ''Beyond Neoliberalism: A World to Win'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Ashgate (2012). * ''The Arab Revolt and the Imperialist Counterattack'', Clarity Press, Inc. (2012). * ''Social Movements in Latin America: Neoliberalism and Popular Resistance'', with Henry Veltmeyer,
Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...
(2011). * ''War Crimes in Gaza and the Zionist Fifth Column in America'', Clarity Press, Inc. (2010). * ''What's Left in Latin America?'', with Henry Veltmeyer, (2009). * ''Global Depression And Regional Wars'', Clarity Press, Inc. (2008). * ''System in crisis: the dynamics of free market capitalism'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Fernwood, Zed Books (2008). * ''Zionism, Militarism and the Decline of US Power'', Clarity Press, Inc. (2008). * ''Multinationals on trial: foreign investment matters'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Ashgate (2007). * ''Rulers and Ruled in the US Empire: Bankers, Zionists and Militants'', Clarity Press, Inc. (2007). * ''The Power of Israel in the United States'', Clarity Press, Inc. (2006). * ''Empire with Imperialism: The Globalizing Dynamics of Neoliberal Capitalism'', Luciano Vasapollo, Zed Books (2006). * ''Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador'', with Henry Veltmeyer,
Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Pluto Press states that it publishes "radical, left‐wing non­‐fiction books", and is anti-capitalist and internationalist. It belongs to The Internat ...
(2005). * ''The New Development Politics: The Age of Empire Building and New Social Movements'', Ashgate (2003). * ''Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Zed Books (2001). * ''The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America'', with Henry Veltmeyer, Palgrave Macmillan (2000). * ''The Left Strikes Back: Class And Conflict In The Age Of Neoliberalism'' (2000). * ''Empire or Republic: Global Power or Domestic Decay in the US'', with Morris Morley, Routledge (1994). * ''Latin America in the Time of Cholera: Electoral Politics, Market Economics, and Permanent Crisis'', Routledge (1992). * ''The United States and Chile: imperialism and the overthrow of the Allende government'', with Morris H. Morley, Monthly Review Press (1975).


References


External links


James Petras Website


{{DEFAULTSORT:Petras, James 1937 births Living people American Marxists American sociologists Binghamton University faculty State University of New York faculty The Nation (U.S. magazine) people American people of Greek descent